The Colorado Symphony Orchestra capitalizes on new pot laws in Colorado with forthcoming "Classically Cannabis" series, The Libertines admit what most other reuniting bands won't — it's all about the money — and the "Courtney killed Kurt!" crowd declares note found in Cobain's wallet is evidence of foul play, but it turns out the scribblings were likely written by Love.

May 29 • Taft Theatre

Everybody Loves Sausages, the 21st (or
so) recording in the Melvins’ improbable 30-year existence, features 13
cover songs that, according to founder/frontdude Buzz Osborne, “will
give people a peek into the kind of things that influence us musically.”

Damien Jurado’s dynamic new LP is his most expectations-busting yet

The story of Damien Jurado’s relationship with Punk Rock seems too symmetrical, too fortuitous and too rare to possibly be true. Somehow, though, all the pieces match.
Now 39 and based out of Seattle, Jurado was once a 14-year-old
growing infatuated with Punk.

Paul McCartney says we can all stop blaming The Beatles' breakup on Yoko Ono and start pointing fingers at Allen Klein, the song The National donated to the Obama campaign four years ago gets co-opted by a college pro-Romney group and court transcripts reveal that Courtney Love is at least considering a Broadway musical based on her late husband's music.

The Backbeat Band play MTV Movie Awards and El Debarge continues battling demons

On this day in 1994, the MTV Movie Awards paid tribute to The Beatles with a special performance by the band that recorded the Beatles songs (or rather, the songs The Beatles covered in their early days) for the soundtrack to the film Backbeat. As seen in the clip below, the band included Hamilton, Ohio's Greg Dulli of the recently reunited Afghan Whigs, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, Don Fleming of Gumball, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Dave Grohl, in his first performance since Kurt Cobain's death just three months earlier. The best part of this may be Dulli and Moore wrestling mid-song. Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a June 4 birthday include Jazz singer Morgana King (1930); Mexican-American Country, Rock and Tejano musician/singer Freddy Fender (1937); Mamas & Papas singer turned actress Michelle Phillips (1944); late guitarist with Paul McCartney's Wings, Jimmy McCulloch (1953); New Jack Swing/R&B vocalist Al B. Sure! (1968); Canadian-born, British-based Electronic musician/DJ Richie Hawtin (1970); Soul/Funk artist Nikka Costa (1972); Dave Matthews Band bassist Stefan Lessard (1974); and R&B comebacker (and co-founder of "family band" DeBarge) El DeBarge (1961). DeBarge is one of those celebrities who have unfortunately had to deal with public attention and scrutiny while attempting to overcome his addiction to drugs. He death with ensuing legal problems, cleaned up and made a highly-touted, Grammy-nominated comeback album in 2010 appropriately titled Second Chance (his first in almost 20 years). DeBarge's triumphant return included a set at the 2011 Macy's Music Festival in Cincinnati. He also sang with Chaka Khan during her set. DeBarge has struggled since the release of Second Chance, returning to treatment — he told Atlanta radio station V103 that friends 50 Cent and Babyface (who co-produced the comeback album) intervened and insisted he not give up and return to rehab. And, just this past March, he got arrested for "suspicion of possession of drugs for sale." (The case was dropped because the judge said there was not enough evidence.)He's clearly still fighting his demons. And so are some of his family members. Just about a week ago, an arrest warrant was issued for brother Mark DeBarge for drug possession charges in Hollywood. Hopefully they'll all get things worked out before it's too late. El DeBarge reportedly met with Whitney Houston at a party two days before her untimely passing. That has to be a wake-up call. As long as he's musically on point, fans will continue to give him second, third, fourth or more chances.

Kurt Cobain and Joe Meek's shotgun endings

On this day 18 years ago, Kurt Cobain decided he was done with life and ended it with a single shotgun blast to the head. While it's fun to play the "What if?" game with brilliant artists who died too soon — like, "Would John Lennon have followed Yoko's lead to become a Dance music superstar?" or "Would James Dean be doing stereotypical 'cool old guy' roles today if he was still around?" — it is, of course, a pointless exercise. But crystal-ball wonderings of a person who actually knew the artist? That's at least a little more interesting. Spin has a piece this morning about the vague musings of Cobain's widow, musician/actress Courtney Love, in an interview a year ago with Mark Yarm, author of Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge. Love told Yarm, "We'd probably live on the Upper West fuckin' Side now and have three fuckin' kids. We might even have a divorce, like both be on our third marriage. I don't fuckin' know. He might be a playwright, (or have) his latest show in MoMA." (Read more here and check out the links featuring other Cobain remembrances.)I like to think the couple would have starred in a really bad Everybody Loves Raymond-type sitcom on CBS. But mostly I wish Cobain would have stuck it out. As they say a lot nowadays, "It gets better." I was lucky enough to see Nirvana a couple of times before Kurt made that impossible — once at Shorty's, the tiny subterranean club on Short Vine in Corryville, with about 50 people in attendance and once at Dayton's Hara Arena (see: poster above) with … quite a bit more people in attendance. Both shows were memorable. I think I got kicked out of Shorty's because some guy wanted to stab me that night (long story). (Nirvana played a few times in our area in those get-in-the-van-and-go, pre-stardom days, including a show at Clifton Heights bar Murphy's Pub. They were scheduled to play with the great AmRep band The Cows at the Top Hat in Newport but their van allegedly broke down on their way. I remember it well ’cause this local band opened up.) In Dayton (memorable in hindsight because Cobain would be dead within a year), Kurt thought former drummer Chad Channing (who lived in Ohio then) was in the audience. The band called for Channing to come up and play "School" with them, but he never showed. Turns out, he wasn't there. The band did play "School" later in the set and dedicated it to Channing. Check out the audio below.Click on for Born This Day featuring Peter Case, Pharrell and Joe Meek.

Kanye West and Jay-Z were recently sent a message from independent record stores — please, sirs, may we sell your music and make you even more money? A coalition of stores signed a letter to the super-duo asking them to reconsider their deal with Best Buy to sell their much-anticipated Watch the Throne exclusively for about two weeks before other retailers may have the privilege.